Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney, filed a lawsuit against an Illinois hospital after a lady died after spending over seven hours stuck on the roof of the hospital, which caused her body temperature to drop to 50 degrees.
According to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek, Chelsea Adolphus, 28, left her hospital room at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan at 2 a.m. on January 23. Somehow, she made her way to the roof, where she stayed wearing only a gown until about 8:45 a.m. Banek gave this statement to reporters at a news conference. That morning, the temperature in the Chicago area was in the low 20s, but it felt like 10 degrees.
Banek stated that after Adolphus was found, the medical workers hurried her to the emergency department, where they spent a number of hours attempting to raise her body temperature. However, their attempts were unsuccessful, and the physicians declared her dead. Banek states that hypothermia is the initial cause of death that has been determined.
Officials are looking into how Adolphus managed to get to the roof and why it took the hospital staff so long to notice that she was gone. In a post on X (previously Twitter), Crump stated that Adolphus “wandered through an unsecured door” and subsequently found himself locked out. The attorney referred to the scenario as “unacceptable negligence.”
He stated, “A hospital — a place meant for healing — became Chelsea’s death trap,” and he added that he wanted the facility “accountable for her preventable death.”
The day before, Adolphus had been admitted to the hospital for medical difficulties that had not been explained.
Banek stated that she has been expressing her worries about the insufficient safety precautions and treatment at the hospital since she began her job as a coroner in 2023. According to her, the hospital has not had enough blood supplies or staff to handle patients with trauma. Banek made a post on her Facebook page just days before Adolphus died, in which she pointed out that American Healthcare Systems, the main corporation of the hospital, had put around 70 employees on furlough.
She wrote, “Waukegan and the community Vista serves deserve better than what American Healthcare Systems is providing.”
Kevin M. Spiegel, the CEO of Vista, held a press conference to dispute some of the claims made by Banek. He stated that the furloughs were not connected to the incident in any way.
According to WMAQ, the NBC affiliate in Chicago, Spiegel stated, “These claims are completely baseless and totally untrue.” “We have submitted a request to the court for an emergency injunction to have her taken off this investigation and replaced with someone who is neutral.”
The hospital is being sued for carelessness and medical malpractice.
Crump assured reporters, “We will get justice for Chelsea Adolphus.”
